ELEMENT X - 1st Arc
by Alexander II Mapleshield
Summary: This is an Original Piece, characters included. Everyone has the ears and tail of a cat or dog. Usually, the adults - people who've lost their ears and tail - are looked down upon, unless they are of age, and have a significant other. On that note, anyone who has features that aren't in line with the above are abused, and aren't considered people, or "abnormal"
1. Chapter 1

December 30th, 2006. Kyoto, Japan

A slideshow began to play, and scenarios were read out loud . . .

Picture this if you will . . . in a world where everyone is born with the ears and tails of either a cat or a dog (cats being the majority), the only way to lose them is for one to lose their virginity; anything that deviates from that standard is considered a blasphemy or a "Filthy reject" by society, and is shunned for that deviation.

A boy with the feature of a wolf is often punched about at his junior high school; his father does nothing but torture or beat the boy senseless, and his mother doesn't look up from her newspaper to see what her husband is doing to her son.

A girl with the features of an owl, is often neglected by her parents and people at her school don't acknowledge her existence, and if they do, they pull her hair, push her around and force her to do jobs that they'd been given . . . her parents . . . don't care about it.

Another boy with the features of an Eagle, and his 'brother' who dons the features of a bat are often not fed at their homes, so they have to find whatever food they can just to survive. For them, the easiest place for them to find food is at the farmer's market events, but they can never pay for what they need, so the shop owners chase them into alley ways and beat them for stealing anything.

Another girl with the features of a fox is bullied both at home and at school, and when her parents don't bully her, they do everything in their power to avoid her at all costs. All of the girls her age just see her as a play-thing, and she ends up getting violated . . . a lot.

Another girl who was born without animal features at all, is looked down upon by all who see her, since here you are considered an adult if you don't have the ears and tail and the only way to lose them is to lose your virginity.

Another girl with the features of a lion is often chased down the street by other men, picked on by other people, and her parents don't care much for her, and they do what they can to make her feel guilty about anything and everything they can.

Another boy with the features of a mouse is always made fun of, and mocked for them; he is also called a rat by all people, including his parents. No one seemed to care about him, and most people enjoy literally kicking him to the curb.

The slideshow came to an end, its viewers exchanged few words.

"What is wrong with these scenarios?"

An older woman addressed a man of roughly the same age,

"Umm . . . They're Americans and you used image that don't really fit the descriptions?" the man asked.

It was true, the images were of regular people, and the animal that each person was supposedly linked to was a separate image; the woman pressed her hand onto her forehead, she was exasperated,

"Nii-sama, the people that surround them are completely prejudiced! They never did anything to deserve the treatment they currently receive. Why don't you understand that?" The man was exhausted,

"It's not our problem Tomoe." He replied firmly,

Tomoe's face turned red and she slammed her hand down on the tatami mat,

"Heisuke! If it was one of our family members or one of our Oniwaban, would you feel the same way!?"

Heisuke sighed, his little sister made a good point, but he didn't understand why she was so worried about them.


	2. Chapter 2

Six years later . . .

Our names are James and Richard. We were born in 1997, and we're both fifteen years old, and we admit that our lives aren't really something worth boasting about; and neither are our features: I (James) have the features of a Golden Eagle (i.e. Eagle-like eyes, feather-like hair, and an Eagle's tail); and my brother Richard has the features of a Bat (i.e. Bat-like ears, fangs, and a Bat's tail), we're not actually brothers, but we're close enough to be called such.

We, both of us are in the same junior high school and class, but we've not been attending recently because of all the people who pick on us.

But we attend most days just so that we don't upset our parents too much; incidentally, both of our parents live in the same neighborhood so we can easily meet up and hang out.

Our parents often force us out the house and keep us out for several hours for some weird reason, they say:

"You don't spend enough time outside."

But they never seem to think about how much we spend when they send us out. Our parents don't really seem to care if we eat or not, because they don't let us back inside at dinner time or until some few hours after it gets dark.

I've always wanted to become a scientist, ever since I was in the second grade. So, when I was at school, I made it my duty to absorb every crumb of information that I could. I'd even look at the teacher's notes when I got up to got the washroom, and wrote down anything I could, trying to memorize all of it.

Usually, that'd last until around 1 o'clock in the morning, so I'd be slower the next morning. Richard often said that he wanted to be a Security Guard or police man, but was always worried that he was too thin and weak; I told him time and time again not to worry about it, but he still doesn't get it.

Just outside of our residential space, there is a farmer's market;

Richard suggested that we go there when we were hungry, even if we had no money, which was most of the time, he usually managed to snag a few apples or plums or something else;

But that was if he went in alone, if I went in with him, I'd accidentally knock something over and attract the attention of the stall owners.

Also, this usually resulted in us being beaten by the clerks;

Richard would often throw himself in their way to protect me, as though I were a leader or an important commander of some sort.

In the end of those situations, we'd end up having to drop everything and then hot-foot it anywhere they couldn't find us;

But lately, that's been getting more and more problematic, since they're taller than us, they can cover more distance in one stride than we can;

But even more importantly, we've been turned over to the police, almost three times, and each time we've both received beatings from our parents, however no one seems to care that we've not been fed before we're sent away.

Today is April 24th, 2012

Incidentally, one of the days when I went into the market/bazaar with Richard, and got our asses caught.

Four of the stall managers had seen us trying to get food, and were pounding up behind us with every ounce of strength they had; we bucketed down the usual roads until we ran into an alleyway with dumpsters in the back,

"Git 'em!" shouted one of the managers,

"Thievin' Bastards!" snarled another.

We reached the end of the alleyway and the dumpsters in front. They had Baseball bats and wooden sticks, but one of them pulled out a fruit knife, he had a murderous glint in his eyes,

"Now you brats'll get what you deserve." he gritted his teeth and inched towards us.

"Jimmy!" Richard shouted, and rushed in front of me to block the knife.

"Richie! No, don't!" I cried, trying to push him back.

"Quit squirming, you abnormal morons!" 'Fruit-knife-man' shouted. We looked at the knife then at each other before we shut our eyes.

Then . . .

We heard the sounds of bodies being thrown and slammed into the ground and walls around us. We opened our eyes to find that we'd been untouched, but the other four were out cold on the ground before us; and standing in the middle of the unconscious bodies, stood a tall lean person in a hooded trench coat.

The man was turned away from us, but he seemed to be upset about something. He turned around, and strode towards us. Richard looked boldly up at the man,

"D-Dammit, man . . . d-don't come no closer . . . I-I-I'll . . . I'll wipe the concrete with your face!"

The man paid no attention to Richard's taunts, and he continued to close in on us. He then knelt down, drew his hood back and spoke with stern and soft tones.

"Are you guys okay?" His deep blue eyes and deep-ish voice were strangely soothing.

His skin was almost the same tanned colour as ours, and his long dark brown hair, which was in a ponytail drooping over his right shoulder looked like something he was very proud of. But what stood out most was this man's features:

"A . . . wolf?"

We whispered this to each other, before we exchanged a confused glance, before glancing back at him; he wore a very straight face, with almost no trace of warmth or happiness.

'Without a Smile.' was all I could think while looking at his face,

"Hey," he snapped his fingers, "Are you guys okay?" he asked again.

"Yeah, we're cool dude." I said,

*Rumble Grumble*

Our stomachs growled; the man raised an eyebrow, and he produced a pair of apples from his coat.

"I bought these earlier, I'm not very hungry, so would you guys like to have them?"

Richard spoke before anyone else could, "Did'ya poison 'em? I betcha frikkin' did."

I slapped Richard's shaven scalp,

"For the love of God, you dumass! We've always had to steal our food, and this is how you'd treat a guy who'd give us something to eat for free?! But at the same time . . ."

The man didn't seem offended,

"No. I don't carry poisons on my person, what kind of person do you take me for?" I felt a little ashamed now.

"Y-Y-Yeah . . . right, sorry." I said quietly.

The man then produced a fruit knife and began to cut the apples into quarters.

"Here." He handed them to us, but . . .

"How are you holding those? Or rather, do you always keep a fruit-knife on you?" I looked at him smugly.

The man simply shrugged as we took the pieces from the slices from the palm of his hand. He seemed to be unconcerned about the situation as he watched us eating, he seemed somewhat thoughtful.

"Say . . . Do you guys have anywhere to go?" The man said this rather suddenly,

"Wha'duz'at mean?" Richard cut me off, but the man seemed undaunted as he continued,

"I mean: Do you guys have a home somewhere? After all, kids like you ought not to be wandering the streets of New York without some kind of supervision."

Richard was about to reply, but I cut him off,

"Our parents kicked us out, but we didn't even do anything to deserve that." Really, our parents seemed to enjoy doing this to us; his next words gave me a faint sense of hope,

"You both look like you suffer enough for three people. I'm willing to help you out with this, if you'd like . . ."

He didn't appear to be lying; but Richard, of course, was suspicious,

"Suuuuuuuurrrrrrrree. Whaz'in it fer you?" he narrowed his gaze as he spoke

The man looked at Richard and said something that was almost too idealistic for even us to believe,

"I used to be the same as you guys, and I hate seeing other people suffering from the same treatment I was given when I was your age, and for the same reason that I was mistreated for. And if there are anymore of us, then I will go through the trouble of saving them."

I was by now half-convinced that this person could help, so I decided to see if I could get some information out of him.

"How are you able to help us?" the man turned back to the unconscious stall-workers and spoke in a slightly proud tone:

"I took those guys out just now. If you wanted, my teachers and I could teach you how to fight, then you could defend yourselves."

I looked at the man; then I noticed that the stall-workers had begun to move. Richard looked nervously between me and the workers; I could feel his gaze shifting between me and them.

"Y- Yes please." I said to him, "But can you first tell me your name?" He looked at me with a soft expression, and then he stood up straight and turned around.

" . . . Saito. Now then, shall we go?" He drew his hood back onto his head and turned away from us.

"Go- . . . where . . . exactly?" Both Richard and I said this while being somewhat in sync; Aaron turned and faced us,

"The Sahara Family's American Estate." he said with a determined expression, and he walked us towards the end of the alleyway.

He checked both ways before signaling to us that the coast was clear for us to pass without being caught.

He walked us to a cleaner neighborhood of New York and we found ourselves almost cringing at what we saw:

It was a very beautiful house with blue-grey brick walls, a recently finished roof, and a very clean lawn with an even cleaner and welcoming feeling. As we stepped up to the front door, Saito produced a key, and turned the lock;

"Come on in." He said as he held the door open for us.

"T-Thanks . . ." I replied as I strode into the lobby.

Richard was even more cautious than me, but I didn't blame him, he was always like this.

Just then, an older woman walked into the lobby and smiled at Saito while folding her arms;

"You're late. Your favorite program started ten minutes ago,"

Saito seemed a little upset by this news, but he smiled as he gestured towards us,

"I found two more. They haven't been fed for a while, and they've been hurt badly in a few places."

The woman moved towards us, knelt down, and examined us carefully. She then pulled back and looked at Aaron, who nodded back to her;

The woman then stood up and addressed us both:

"What are your names?"

I spoke for the both of us: "I'm James, and this is my brother: Richard."

Her expression was a stern one, as she looked between the both of us,

"Follow me." she said, and she led us up the stairs and towards one of the bedrooms.

Once inside, she opened up a medical kit and placed it on the bed. She gestured for us to sit on the bed; she produced bottle with the word: "Ethanol" printed on it,

"Alright Richard, you're first. Now take off your shirt."

Richard immediately tensed up,

"Tha'hell woman?! I ain't strippin'! Wait, howmuch money you payin'?"

I slapped my forehead and shook my head back and forth,

"She's tryin'da clean your cuts, man! Just let her do her thing."

It went like that for at-least half an hour.


	3. Chapter 3

When Richard finally calmed down, the woman began to clean our injuries,

"By the way, my name is Tomoe. Tomoe Sahara. You're welcome to call me by either name."

I found it a little strange that out of all other people that I'd met, she was completely fine with my features and she was even kind enough to let me know her name.

I explained our situation to her and she listened more carefully than anyone else I'd ever known. I was happy, happier than I'd been before; even Richard was comfortable with this lady

At last our cuts and bruises were sanitized and we taken to the dining room, and were given some food.

Saito was in the room adjacent to the dining room with another girl watching television, it was some Japanese program that I'd seen the posters for in the town. The guy with the purple outfit and eyes, with his long black hair in a ponytail, I thought that he was the coolest.

The woman was watching us eat, which I found sort of weird; for some reason, Richard was totally fine with it, but the silence was too awkward for me to stand anymore, so I spoke up:

"So, who are you exactly?"

I was a little more than just curious about it,

"I'm Saito's elder sister," Tomoe replied,

"I don't like to brag, but if you've heard my last name, it's most likely because my family is rather famous around the world."

Then it hit me; 'So that's why her name is familiar to me.' I thought to myself;

"So . . . are you . . . his Martial Arts Teacher?"

I looked at the woman from head-to-foot earlier, but she didn't look particularly strong to me.

She was at least 5'-6", very slender, and almost too lady-like to have that kind of strength, but I didn't dwell on it as I looked back at her. She seemed rather prideful as she grinned and continued,

"Yes, I am. I know I don't look it, but I am a master of Ju-jitsu and three forms of Swordsmanship."

'Three forms?' That was fairly impressive to me; even Richard stopped eating when he heard that;

"I gueshya really can't judge a book by its cover, can ya?" he said;

He seemed slightly surprised by that.

Tomoe simply smiled at him gently, "Well, thank you."

Then something occurred to me:

"Wait-a-minute, wasn't there something else you wanted to do? Y'know, besides becoming a Martial Arts Master?"

It seemed to me, that there must have been something else that she had really wanted to do, and from what I'd seen from other students at my school, Martial Arts were something that required discipline and a load of other things that I couldn't remember the names of, but Tomoe's next words were enough to convince me otherwise.

"Well . . . for a while, I wanted to be a Comic artist and writer, but I didn't think that I could, after looking at what I'd drawn and reading what I'd written. When I started practicing Martial Arts, I found that it was a good way to take my mind off of my short-comings."

That at least made sense to me, but . . .

'How many short-comings did she have to make her learn three different sword-styles and Ju-jitsu?'

Naturally, I didn't say that to her face. But that made me remember: 'How badly did I want to become a Scientist?'

I was doing everything that I could to learn about chemicals, and how volatile they could be. It was then that I began liking and wanting help; my klutzy-ness at the Farmer's Market, my own lack of strength, all of my short-comings seemed to pile up higher, and higher.

I turned to Richard; he'd been like a twin brother to me since we were in tear-away short pants almost ten years ago,

Saito, and the girl he was watching the television, with entered the room, and were watching the scene unfold from the side. I then felt like I had to talk about what I wanted to do.

"I . . . I want to become a scientist."

I said as calmly as I could; this was the first time I had told anyone what I really wanted to do, the first time I'd ever told anyone . . . my dream.

"I've been studying ever since I was in Grade two or so, but I'm just barely keeping average grades and my parents don't really seem to want me to become one. They always kick us out and don't let us back in 'til it's dark and the only lights on are the street lights."

Tomoe looked at me with furrowed brows, as though she was trying to study my every move. I didn't know what to think until she spoke.

"If that is the case, then it'd be best if you did your studying here. You can get a bite to eat, you can study in better lighting, and you can exercise properly."

She smiled as she finished her sentence.

I thought about this for a moment, then I remembered;

"As much as I'd like to stay here, my parents wouldn't allow it, I always have to be home by six o'clock, on the dot. Any later, and I get shoved into the tree in the backyard . . . for the night."

Tomoe's eyes widened at that, "You too!?" She gasped.

This was confusing to me; "Your parents used to put you on trees in the backyard for you to sleep on?" I asked,

I didn't think that was something that parents made their children do if they misbehaved.

"What? No, not me," Tomoe turned and indicated to Saito,

"His parents would keep him in a dog-house, outside, even in winter."

I couldn't believe that I was hearing this, as I looked Saito up and down again,

"How is he not dead?!" I was shocked that he lived through that, I wasn't given an answer though.

Saito spoke up;

"If you can't stay, then we'll have to drop you off in your neighborhood at least a half an hour before your curfew. Also, what about your friend here, um d-uh, what's his name again?"

He gestured to Richard.

"M'name's Richard. Call me Richard, Rich, or even Dick, I don'care." He said as he finished eating the food in front of him.

The Girl stepped out and looked at the two of us, "Your brother is pretty rude." she observed,

"That's 'cuz my parent talk that way to us, so he's picked it up for me." I explained,

Saito furrowed his brows, looked down and nodded.

Thanks, anyways, what I'm asking is: Does Richard have a curfew also?"

Richard turned to face him,

"M'folks aren't around 'ny more, so I stick around w'James. His folks aren't so great, but it beats hangin' 'round the orphanage. I been w'James fer . . . I'd say . . . nine, maybe ten-odd years er so."

Saito nodded again, and put his hand on his chin, as if to stroke his non-existent beard,

"So, then you both live in the same house? Then your schedules would be the same, so you could come here anytime you wanted, and Tomoe can drop you guys off in your neighborhood when you have to go home."

We both nodded, and simultaneously I glanced at the clock to see that it was already 5:30, it'd taken us almost half-an-hour to get there on foot, and Tomoe didn't know where our parents lived.

"Crap! We gotta get home, like, right now." I was freaking out, getting beaten by my parents was painful enough just thinking about it.

Tomoe then stood up, she looked pretty serious. "Alright then, let's get you two back home."

Tomoe turned and pulled her coat off of the coat hanger and slipped her slender arms through each sleeve.

Saito sat down and looked at the both of us and asked: "You both wanna be chemists?"

Richard looked at him and said firmly,

"I'm no good at academical related stuffs, bu-the idea of bein' a body guard is cool."

He simply nodded and looked down at the table deep in thought.

Meanwhile, Tomoe had put her shoes on, and was waiting at the door for us. We walked over to her and we put our shoes on and we strode out of the house with Tomoe in the lead.

We sat in the back seat of the car, as Tomoe drove down the road; I gave her directions to our neighborhood. Richard didn't say a word for the whole of the trip; he just kept his eyes trained on the buildings as we drove down the road. It wasn't long before we made it back to our neighborhood;

"Right here's good,"

And Tomoe to pull the car over, "Thanks for driving us home."

I said, while motioning for Richard to get out as well,

"Will you two really be alright?" Tomoe asked, tilting her head,

"We know the way from here." I explained, the real reason was that I didn't want our parents to find out that we'd been at someone else's house when we didn't tell them.

Tomoe simply nodded as we shut the doors behind us; then she pulled out from the curb, made a U-turn, and drove away, waving good bye as she pulled away.

We started walking home I spoke up,

"D'you think we can trust 'em?"

Richard looked at me, "Dunno. But honestly, I don' like 'em, mainly that Saido-dude."

I furrowed my brows, "What? Why not? He even saved us."

Richard looked at me with a strangely cold expression and shook his head,

"I jus'don' trust 'im. But I can't tell why."

It wasn't long before we got home, and just in time too. We slipped up the stairs while our parents were sitting in the living room watching T.V. and into to our rooms, where we both lay down on our beds. I wasn't sure why, but Richard was adamant that we could trust them; I on the other hand, was feeling a little better about our whole ordeal. Like the clouds were clearing away to reveal the bright blue skies that lay behind them . . .

I felt myself beginning to drift away to sleep, and one last time, I let the ideas of the future bounce around in my head before I finally fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

2 months later . . .

My name is Harly. I was born in 1999, and I'm thirteen years old, and I really wish that I was the same as everyone else.

My Fox-ears and tail have made me the joke of both my neighborhood, and my school; aside from a few guys on the side considering me cute and straight out calling me: "Foxy-mama" (I don't really like it, but it beats other names that I've been given (Which I will not list on this page)), it could be worse; but I'm trying not to worry about it. Besides, I've almost fit in to my society . . .

My mom doesn't really care about me; she treats me with a kind of neglect you'd give an annoying dog, on a hot day. As for my dad . . .

I don't fully remember how he used to treat me, but I do remember that he wasn't really mean to me, like everyone else is. All I remember of him is a vague image of his face and an even more vague feeling of him cradling me in his arms. I sometimes dream about it . . . and it makes me feel safer at night.

But moving away from that, I would say that my school life is fairly average, aside from the bullying, and the lack of attention from the student body and teachers, I try not to let anything get me down, but it would be nice if people would take the time to get to know me.

Of course, this wasn't something that I thought would happen, until a few days ago,

It seemed that I was somehow being hand-cuffed to a lamp post by the school bullies . . . it's too embarrassing for me to elaborate on, but I will say that I was really pissed off at the people who had done this to me; I also wanted to know how I'd gotten there, since it was like a jump cut from a high school film project.

Funny enough; after I was cuffed up to the lamp post, I saw that there was one guy standing behind the rest of the gang. He was tall enough for me to see over the crowd around me, and he was holding a very large camera with an equally sized microphone mounted on the front. It looked like a news reporter's filming camera.

I wanted to know how some junior high student could've gotten a camera like that. As far as I was aware, this specific one was very expensive.

Anyhow, I was being poked with switchblades; my hair, ears, and tail were being pulled; and everyone was laughing their asses off. I felt very embarrassed, and sad. I wanted all of it to stop; but that wasn't really going to happen. Really, it could only get worse from this point on.

The Gang leader stepped forwards; she was at least sixteen years old, wore cake-face makeup, and was holding a switchblade in her right hand; she looked very disgusting from where I stood.

"Okay then, let's make this sexier."

She said, and she stepped towards the lamp post and stood behind me; then she grabbed my pants and started pulling them downwards, I closed my eyes and prepared for the worst.

Then . . .

*Crash! *

*Thud! *

*Bang! *

Everyone suddenly jumped as those sounds rang out; the camera man's lights were completely put out and he lay on the ground, bleeding from his forehead. Standing behind him was an even taller person with long brown hair, deep blue eyes and tanned skin. He didn't look very happy.

"Hey, Fuck-face! Th'Hell's yer problem?!"

"That camera costs a lot, man"

"How're you gonna pay fer it, huh?"

Three of the members were upset that the camera was so badly damaged, but the man didn't seem to care. He simply turned to face us, his blue eyes seemed to reach down into my soul; all the while, the only thing I could think was that I knew this person, somehow.

The man, meanwhile, paid no attention to the three people talking to him, and walked over to the lamp post; the gang leader simply pointed her switchblade at him, and shouted:

"Get him! Make sure he can't stand up after you're done!"

The rest of the gang rushed forwards with their blades. I wanted to scream, and tell this person to leave, but I couldn't find my voice. So, I closed my eyes again; the next thing that I knew, I heard the sound of thrown punches, and the sound of bodies dropping.

At last I opened my eyes and stared, every one of his attackers had been taken down, the man flexed his wrist and cracked every one of the knuckles in his right hand

The Gang-leader was beyond pissed at this point; and she stood firmly in front of the man, with her blade at the ready. I was excited, this was the first time that someone had fought for my sake, and he was that determined to win.

The Gang leader thrust the knife at him, only to get turned around and stuck in a Master-lock, which she managed to get out of. Finally, she seemed to realize that she was out of her element, and turned back in front of me, she couldn't run the other way and run without climbing up the wall, which she couldn't really do since she was wearing high heel shoes.

She was still getting her thoughts together when . . .

*Thud! *

His fist landed squarely between her nose bridge and forehead, he shook his hand as the Gang leader lurched backwards, then he rushed forwards and punched hard her in the stomach using his left hand. The Gang leader groaned as she fell to her knees, tilted to the right and hit the ground.

I could only stare at the scene in front of me: the whole 'bullying' gang from my Junior High School was taken out by one guy, the gang always seemed so untouchable, until now; looking at him now, I wasn't even sure that he had that kind of strength, he was lanky and tall, his long brown hair was draped over his left shoulder in a ponytail, he wore a trench coat, and a hoodie underneath.

He looked shifty, I wasn't sure of what to think when I saw that he wasn't smiling even after winning the fight. Finally, he pulled his hood down, and then I understood why it felt like I knew him from somewhere; his features weren't "normal" by any standard; he had the ears and tail of a wolf, and he looked sympathetically at me.

He strode forwards and found the keys to the handcuffs in the pocket of the Gang leader; as he undid the cuffs, I could see his face a lot clearer, and I realized that it reminded me of my Dad, his face was similar, only my father was shorter and more built up. He said nothing as he took the cuffs off of my wrists and he held them by the chain.

He looked over to the Gang leader, put her hands behind her back and tightened the cuffs around her wrists, then, he pondered where to put the key.

"U-uhm . . .? Excuse me, m- mister?" I had to get another good look at his face; he turned slowly half-way around,

"Oh, sorry, are you okay?" He seemed very stern and too serious to get along with, but I still had to try.

"W-who are you?" that was all that I could get out, but he still gave me an answer,

"My name is Saito."

At last, he turned around completely and I could finally see his whole face; aside from being lanky, his face was like my Dad's if only a little colder . . .

I found myself beginning to feel overwhelmed with happiness, and my body moving on its own . . .

"DADDY!"

I cried, and launched myself at this person; he didn't move, he just reacted, and held me in his arms as if I were his own child.


	5. Chapter 5

I felt myself moving on instinct as I hugged this, Saito-person, and beginning to tear up. He then pulled back and knelt down; and looking into my eyes, he asked me,

"Have we met . . .?" I suddenly realized what I was doing, and I blushed.

"Uh, d-uh, ugh, uuuhhmm . . .?" Was all I could say.

This, Saito-person, didn't seem upset, thankfully enough, but I was too flustered to think of anything else to say; I could feel my face and ears flaring up with the embarrassment.

But instead of laughing, his expression softened, and he put a gentle hand on my head and ruffled my hair,

"Mah, I guess . . . I wouldn't mind having you as a daughter." Looking at his face, I saw that he was blushing slightly, and he was looking away.

Also, on a completely different note: my father's eyes were brown; this, Saito-person, had deep blue ones, they were kind of soothing in a way; but I digress. This person looked enough like my father and he seemed nice enough, so I made my choice.

"Daddy," I said, "Let's go home."

He looked troubled at first, but then he stood up and drew his hood back over his face,

"Come on then, kiddo." he said, and we walked slowly out of the alley way.

We walked some ways away from the shopping district, and soon we entered a fairly distinct neighborhood, then he turned and asked me:

"How am I your Dad, by the way?"

"Hm?" I turned back and looked at him.

"I mean, you just screamed: 'DADDY!' at my face."

Then I remembered how I'd reacted when I saw his face, and felt myself blush a little. I gave him the best answer that I could come up with:

"You look a lot like my actual Daddy. He was the only person, ever, that was nice to me." Saito tilted his head to the left, and looked at me curiously,

"But then, why did you call me Daddy? He's waiting for you at your home, isn't he?" My chest felt heavy as he asked about my father,

"He is waiting for me, in Heaven." I replied softly; his eyes widened slightly when he heard that,

"I'm sorry to hear that. I shouldn't have asked."

He seemed to be a lot more down than he was before, so I decided to try perking things up:

"Don't worry 'bout it, when you came in and rescued me, I felt like my he'd come back from the dead to help me one last time. It was even better when I saw your face, since you look a lot like him."

Saito said nothing, but he looked a little bit better than he did before, he didn't smile though, which I thought was weird. Even so, I didn't press him, and we stayed quiet for the rest of the walk. Eventually, we arrived at a house; Saito pulled a key out of his pocket, inserted it into the lock and opened the door.

We walked in, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing; I was scared, I walked behind Saito and latched onto his back, gripping his left hand tightly. Saito said nothing at first; he just turned back and looked at me shivering at this new atmosphere.

Then he turned forwards and called: "'Nee-san? I'm home."

Then, I heard footsteps coming from the other end of the hallway, and I felt myself cling onto Saito more tightly than before, I was worried about what sort of ugly-creeper-person he bunked with.

At last a person emerged from the right side of the hallway. My original expectations were shattered when I saw the woman that appeared; she was beautiful, more beautiful than what I had pictured in my mind.

"Welcome back, sweetie." she called back, and walked towards us.

I didn't realize it until a few seconds too late, but a part of me was jutting out just far out enough behind Saito, that this woman could just barely see me. I stepped further behind Saito, but it didn't help.

"Hello there," The woman said, and she knelt down to me.

I couldn't tell if Saito did or didn't like the exchange that was going on, but he put a gentle hand on my shoulder and he pulled me out from behind and pushed me in front of him. (Like he was presenting me)

"I found another one being bullied in an alleyway. She's been bruised in several places."

The woman looked me up and down, and smiled at me. Unlike most people, she didn't really want to hurt me; but I couldn't tell that.

She reached out to touch my head, but that scared me; I, naturally, reacted rashly. As she reached out to me, I swatted her hand away.

The woman looked surprised when that happened, and then she tried again . . . the same thing happened.

After the third cycle, Saito cut in.

"Harly, be nice. This is your Aunt Tomoe." Tomoe reacted when she heard that.

"How is she related to you?" She looked very worried, even her cat ears were twitching.

Saito shrugged, "I look like her father, so she calls me: Dad."

"Daddy." I corrected him; he just looked at me sternly,

"I'd prefer it if you called me 'Dad'" "I don't care, I'm still gonna call you 'Daddy'." I said firmly.

Saito just sighed, and I turned back to Tomoe; but this time, I walked up to her and nuzzled up against her waist. She could only stare at this, but none the less, she petted me back.

"I'm sorry I hit you," I said "but no one has ever been that friendly with me before."

"It's okay," she said with a smile. "what's your name?"

"Harly" I replied.

Then Saito spoke,

"Nee-san, can you introduce her to the others? I'm too tired." Tomoe nodded as Saito took his shoes off, and strode away.

When we got to the living room, there were three other people there; one had the features of an Owl, and next to her there was a boy with the features of an Eagle, and sitting next to him, was a boy with the features of a Bat. All three of them were seated: one to the left of the other; they all looked dignified and very diligent.

Saito walked past the T.V. and went into the kitchen, while Tomoe brought me over to the others; she addressed them as though they were the students of a homeroom class,

"Guys, we've got a new member with us. I want you all to be nice to her."

"Aw, c'mon, dewy hafta have a new guy?" 'Bat-man' whined; he was sitting to the far right.

"Dude, really? I think it'd be nice to have a new member with us. Company's been gettin' kinda stale, lately." This came from 'Eagle-eyes'.

'Owlite' simply furrowed her brows and elbowed Eagle-eyes in the ribs.

Like Saito did earlier, Tomoe managed to get me out in front of her; I felt my ears twitch as the three of them laid eyes on me.

"Oh Dayum!" Eagle-eyes exclaimed, "Finally! A Foxy-Mama!"

(For those of you who don't know, calling a woman a foxy-mama is actually pretty offensive)

I felt my face turn red, and I rushed forwards; karate-chopping 'Eagle-eyes' right in the middle of his head. This enraged 'Bat-man' and pleased 'Owlite', who seemed impressed,

"A clean attack, and executed perfectly . . . I think you and I are gonna get along juuuuuusst fiiiiiiine." She proffered her left-hand for a high-five; I flinched at first, but when I realized what this was, I returned the gesture.

'Bat-man' was upset,

"Bitch, I dare yada do dat again!" He snarled.

I was tired of putting up with people talking down to me; I was sick of being made fun of for having "No back bone."

I felt my face twist up when I heard him speak; I walked towards him and slammed my fist into his forehead, I could only imagine how he felt, and I could just barely imagine stars floating around his head.

Saito came back into the living room and seemed very surprised by what he saw. 'Owlite' was grinning from ear-to-ear; Eagle-eyes was feeling his head all over to see if he'd been injured; and 'Bat-man' was passed out, resting his head against the wall behind him.

"What happened?" Saito seemed upset.

"Are you sure that she was being bullied? She didn't even try, just now." Tomoe was a little disappointed, and she walked over to him. Then, she started poking at Saito's nose,

"Do you need a prescription-change?" She asked.

"No," Saito said,

"She was clearly being bullied." And pushing her hand away, he turned to me,

"How do you explain this?" He asked, pointing to the two injured men on the couch.

I just shrugged,

"I feel more confident when people don't have any weapons on them,"

Saito and Tomoe looked at me with widened eyes and softened expressions,

"People with weapons scare me. It scares me when I see people like that." I looked over to Saito before I continued.

"Daddy, you saw those people today, didn't you?" Saito paused, and then nodded.

"I did see them." He turned back to Tomoe,

"The people who were bullying her had switchblades on them; I still don't get why those kids carry those kinds of items on their person."

His brows furrowed and he looked down at his left fist. Tomoe nodded and walked over to me,

"If that's how it is, then we'll all do what we can to help you over-come your fear." She put a gentle hand on my shoulder, and smiled at me.

Saito stood beside her but he didn't smile; his expression had softened, so it looked like he was smiling. I could only feel the urge to purr as Saito put his hand on my head, and Tomoe sat beside me.

Things (For once) were looking up.


	6. Chapter 6

Months passed; all six people had gotten used to each others presence in the house. Training resumed as per usual for Tomoe, Saito, and Kaoru, and with the additions of James, Richard and Harly, the sessions went on longer, and time passed quicker. Even so, they only started after getting a full week's worth of rest since they were poorly treated and mal-nourished; but despite this, they were very quick to recover and wasted no time in their journeys to getting stronger.

The new three were exceptionally fast learners and were quick to learn the stances, strikes and the rules when engaging in combat; as their injuries faded, making way for new muscle and strength that even they didn't know they had.

James found it very easy to balance his workload and training; studying chemistry and various other sciences in the evenings, all the while making time and energy to practice swordsmanship and jiu jitsu in the mornings. At first, he decided to practice the Tennen Rishin style of Kenjutsu, but found it to be too rough for him as he was; he stuck with it for a while before deciding that the Hokushin Ittou style was better suited to his overall bodily structure.

This was only one reason that James had for changing styles; another reason was to get closer to Emma,

"We're both birds!" He would say, if someone pressed the issue, "And you know what they say: 'Birds of a feather flock together.' Also . . . I think that she is pretty hot."

This mildly flattered Emma, but she always brushed it off as James playing around. She couldn't always believe it when someone said it straight to her face that she was attractive.

Richard, busied himself with his study of swordsmanship, and found the most ease in the Tennen Rishin style, since his bodily structure was different enough from James' that practicing it wasn't too rough for him. He was even more enthralled by his study of jiu jitsu, and was practicing so hard that eventually, he had to force himself to get out of bed in the mornings,

"I hafta get stronger." He would say, "Stronger 'dan Saito, stronger 'dan anyone inda house."

By this point, both James and Richard had been kicked out of their parents' house and were told to go live on the streets, since they kept coming home minutes behind their scheduled curfew. So, they gladly took up residence in the Sahara Family's American Estate; even so, Richard remained skeptical of the rest of the others in the house. But over time, he was able to get used to them, but only them; if a 'normal' person knocked at the door and Tomoe let them in, Richard would give off the vibe of a guard dog and snarl at them.

Harly almost never leaves Saito's side and tries to be like him in some aspects of her life, but she ends up following her own instincts and stands out as an individual in the house. Harly had already been kicked out of her mother's home several times before, and had no real intention of going back,

"My Mummy doesn't care about me so I feel no real need to go back to her, and feel like an unwelcome puppy."

Was her response whenever Tomoe or Saito asked her; sometimes Richard would be nearby, and would offer,

"So, basically, y'don' wanna feel like a bitch, izzat it?"

Saito and Tomoe would glare at him when they heard that, but Harly never seemed to care.

But there are instances when Harly is by herself; usually in the mornings when she wakes up, she goes over to Tomoe's room and asks if she can pet and cuddle with her. Other times include exercising in the basement training room with Tomoe, Kaoru and James – incidentally, she trains in the Hokushin Ittou style of Kenjutsu – or before going to sleep, she decides to sit on the roof and look at the Moon; sometimes Kaoru joins her, and sometimes Saito is already there; and the three of them sit there for at least an hour before going to sleep.

It would be exactly one month after Harly joined the group that they would finally feel fully accepted by the others.

The three of them were watching Hakuouki at the end of the day with Saito and Emma; Harly was curled up on the floor next to Saito, and was gently nuzzling him under the chin and he was gently petting her under the chin. James was sitting on the couch next to Kaoru, trying to cuddle with her, but she wasn't paying any attention to him, she was busy focusing on the television.

Richard meanwhile, sitting next to James on the couch, but he was sitting with his feet in the air, and his head on the ground. James knew why Richard did this, but he didn't explain it to the others; just then, Tomoe entered the room.

She looked around the space and she walked around the couch to where Saito lay, sat down next to him and started petting his head. Saito then leaned over towards his sister and rested his head on her shoulder; Harly then moved to sit between the two of them and rested her head, on Tomoe's right breast.

"So, do you guys want nicknames?" Tomoe asked them, Harly was overjoyed.

"Wait, Really? Yes, please!" Harly sat up excitedly, her tail wagging feverishly; Richard and James were skeptical.

"Whaddya mean: Nickname?" asked Richard,

"I like my name, but, it doesn't sound like a bad idea." This came from James.

Tomoe nodded, the three of them didn't have any idea of what they wanted to be called, and they all wanted to be given good names; Harly's ears twitched with anticipation, James scratched his nose as he waited for Tomoe to continue, and Richard tried to sit-up (Which was difficult for him to do since he was lying upside-down on the couch)

"What kind of nickname can I get? . . . I want one like Daddy's." Harly's ears and tail were still twitching as Tomoe began to think.

Saito looked to the television screen and turned to face Tomoe,

"Why not give them names from the Shinsengumi? That's what we did for me and Kaoru." He offered.

Kaoru perked up,

"That's true, but we just took last names. Tomoe gave me my first name, and you haven't chosen one yet."

Kaoru pointed that out with a wry smile, Saito barely grinned when he heard that; but Tomoe began to ponder over the thought,

"Okay then. James, whose name do you choose?" Tomoe turned to face the young Eagle-boy on the couch; James looked to the screen and lowered his eyebrows as he thought,

". . . Hmm . . . What name does the guy in purple go by again?" He asked this as the image of a man dressed in purple appeared on the screen and started talking with the Aizu reinforcements, that had marched their way into the picture. Tomoe looked to the screen and stared,

"That's Toshizo Hijikata, the Demon Vice-Commander; the Japanese ordering of his name is: Hijikata Toshizo."

James started to think; a few moments passed before he spoke again,

"I wanna be called Toshizo, that sounds like a cool name; but just Toshizo, not the whole thing."

Emma looked over to the eagle-boy beside her and raised an eyebrow,

"Really? I don't think that you're cool enough to wear that name. Saito, yes and Richard maybe, but not you."

"Shut up, you!" James snapped, "I'll be cool enough to wear it when I hit sixteen!"

"Or so you think . . ." Emma sniggered as she said that, James seethed with rage.

Tomoe watched the scene before her in mild amusement; all the while still petting Saito, whose head was nestled under her chin. Harly was curled up between them and purring contentedly, she was also enjoying the scene before her.

Tomoe turned her attention to the little Bat lying upside-down on her couch,

"And you, Richard? What would you like to be called?"

Richard stayed silent for a few moments; meanwhile on the television screen, a man in a red top and green pants lay on a wooden stretcher, blood stains covered both of his lips. His deep green eyes stayed open for a few more seconds before he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

Richard indicated towards the screen, and asked,

"Whazaguy's name?" Tomoe turned back to the screen,

"That's Souji Okita: the first squad captain; the Japanese ordering of his name is: Okita Souji."

Richard thought for a second.

"I calls Souji then!" He shouted and raised his fist, though it was technically still near the ground, it did count as a fist pump. Tomoe sniggered as Richard finished punching the carpet.

"Okay, so we have Toshizo and Soujiro . . . now what about you?" Tomoe turned her attention to the little fox-girl beside her; who looked over to her and began to think.

"Were there any girls in the Shinsengumi? If there are, then I'll use one of those names."

Harly's tail and ears continued to twitch as she waited eagerly to hear Tomoe's answer. But Tomoe didn't respond right away; she placed her left hand on her chin and continued to think about a name that would suit Harly.

In the end, she couldn't remember any females members from the Shinsengumi, so she began to think about names for girls in Japanese; she ran several names through her mind:

"Suki . . . Mikuru . . . Mizuki . . . Kagami . . . Kirie . . ." finally, "Yuuzuki!" She exclaimed.

Then she turned to face the little girl, and grinned,

"What do you think of: Yuuzuki?" Harly allowed the name to sink in, and smiled,

"I like it! I want that to be my name, please." Her tail and ears wagged back and forth furiously, and the smile on her face couldn't have gotten any bigger.

And with that, the three new members of the house were given new names.

More time passed. After receiving their names, the others practiced Kenjutsu and jiu-jitsu with an all new vigor; eventually, both James and Harly got very tired and ended up having to force themselves out of bed in the mornings.

Richard on the other hand, had surpassed his limit, and was able to get up without incident in the mornings. After having a moderately sized breakfast, he would go downstairs and train himself non-stop; the only times that he would stop, would be for lunch, dinner, or to take a drink.

Kaoru busied herself with the practice of her Kenjutsu, and made sure that she focused most of her energy on it as opposed to anything else, since it was one thing that she thoroughly enjoyed. Since she and Yuuzuki trained in the same style, Kaoru was willing to personally instruct her in Kenjutsu; through that, the two of them developed a kinship that rivaled even the 'Bro-ternal' relationship between Richard and James.

Kaoru easily took a liking to Yuuzuki and took her "under her wing, to coin a phrase", was how she explained it; they got on extremely well since they were both 'Creatures of the Night', Kaoru being an Owl, and Yuuzuki being a Fox.

As for Saito, he busied himself with his own training in Mugai style Iaijutsu, and Jiu-Jitsu, but as well as his own self-defense; he had taken a part-time job at the harbor near their house. He had done this because, he had noticed that Tomoe was spending more time at her workplace and that she would come home late and tired.

It was then that Saito decided to help Tomoe with managing the household; this was also why he'd gotten his part-time job. This pleased Tomoe, who'd come up with a way to hide Saito's wolf ears in public without him having to wear a hooded sweater.

Saito was pleased with this, and felt free enough to walk outside without fear of ridicule; he even managed to convince Kaoru to get a part-time job, but she worked at local stores, since she wasn't over fond of working by the ocean. She never did say why . . .

Eventually, all three of them were getting tired with the workloads they'd set themselves up with; James and Harly noticed this.

On the afternoon that they noticed, Harly was sitting on the roof of the house; the part she sat on wasn't very high off of the ground, and a small patio was just beneath her feet, so she could jump down whenever she wanted.

She had finished her training for the day, and was just enjoying some alone-time. The sun shone, birds sang, and all of the world around her just seemed to slow as she took in her surroundings.

Suddenly, she heard the rustling of bushes nearby, she looked over and saw that the low-hanging branches were shaking slightly. Curious, she jumped down, and went to investigate; as she got near the bushes, she heard a gentle mewing noise.

Then, out from the middle of the bushes, emerged a kitten; it was very small, with big red eyes, a bushy tail and a small black mark in the middle of it's forehead, it vaguely resembled a Chinchilla. Its paws up to its forelimbs were black, unlike the rest of the little creature, which was a lovely creamy colour.

Harly crouched down and tried to face the kitten, she gently extended an arm towards it; the little creature at first didn't care, but when Harly's hand made contact with the scruff of its neck, the kitten closed its eyes and trundled slowly forward towards her. Harly grinned as the kitten started to purr and smile; she then picked it up and cradled it in her arms, petting its small head cooing at like it was her child.

"Oohh, who's the sweetest little thing? You are that's who!" She kept saying over and over again.

By now, Harly had moved back onto her little space on the roof; the kitten was stretched out over her right shoulder, yawning and meowing contentedly.

Just then, Harly heard another sound and her fox ears perked up. She recognized it as the sound of the house's front door opening and closing; once again, she jumped down with the cat on her shoulder and rushed over towards the door, to find Saito taking his shoes and jacket off.

"DADDY! Hi. Did you miss me? Did you MISS ME?!" she called as she flew into Saito's arms and started nuzzling him under the chin with her head.

Saito was mildly surprised when that happened, but as usual, he pretended like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Hi sweetie," he said, only smiling lightly enough for her to notice,

"How was your day?" he started petting her,

"It was good. Look what I found in the backyard!" and she pressed the little kitten into his face

Saito lurched backwards as he felt the furry object make contact with his face,

"Whu-? Where did that come from? I know you said the backyard, but where?" he stared at the cat with mild disbelief and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, it doesn't have a collar, but it looks domesticated." she replied, and she extended her arms forwards, the kitten seemed to smile as it looked Saito in the eye.

Saito then took the kitten in his own hands and eyed it all over,

"I can't tell if this is a boy or a girl. I wonder what breed it is." he pondered that and handed the kitten back to Harly.

"You can't tell, huh? Now what should I name you?" Harly went back to cooing at the kitten; Saito meanwhile, was confused,

"You like it that much?" he asked, Harly nodded,

"But it's the cutest thing I've seen in forever!" she cuddled the creature, and the cat, (who seemed to have no objections) purred, completely content. Saito was taking his jacket off when he finally managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together,

"You want to keep it, don't you?" Saito's eyelids lowered as he realized what Harly was trying to get at,

"Oh, can I?" her ears perked up again, "Please, please, PLEASE?" she tried to make the puppy-dog eyes, but she didn't know, that sort of thing wouldn't work against him.

Saito remained unfazed, none the less, he sighed,

"Uuuggghhh . . . Fine, you can keep it." Harly's eyes widened with joy, "Really?"

"As long you take full responsibility for him- uh, her . . . whatever. Just remember, you're the one who found it, and you said you wanted to keep it. So, it's only natural that you look after the cat yourself." he ruffled her hair with his left hand, and hung up his jacket with the right. Harly was overjoyed,

"YAAAAAAYYYYY! Thanks, Daddy!", and Harly skipped away with the kitten in her arms.

Saito watched her leave the lobby; once again, he was mildly amused, he was surprised that she had been so happy over something so simple. He brushed it off and went over to the living room, James was already there; the T.V. was on, and he was watching a program that had come out in the early 2000's.

"Yo," James said, as Saito entered the room, "howya been?"

"Today was okay, still tired from last night's training." he replied,

Then he turned his attention to the television screen, the image of a long-haired, blonde man on the outside a small cruise-ship could be seen,

"Is this . . . LOVELESS?" Saito asked, mildly curious.

LOVELESS was a reality show that had been popular when he was younger, but the show had stopped airing after its third season, and that was in the year 2003.

"Yeah," said James, "Do you think that the Sentouki and Gisei are real?" he asked, Saito paused,

"I've never seen them in real life, but I did read about them in Elementary School. But I don't understand them . . . then again, it's probably better if I don't." this confused James, but he didn't press the issue.

"Really? I think they're pretty cool. Two people linked together in a common cause, it's cliché, but still interesting." James was still talking, but Saito couldn't fully understand what he was saying. It made very little sense.

"Huh, that is actually pretty cool." was all that he could say after James had finished his monologue.

Saito left the room and went to the kitchen, to find Kaoru getting a glass of water; she looked exhausted as she leaned back against the counter.

"Rough day?" Saito asked,

Kaoru jumped and spilled some of the water on her sweater; it wasn't the middle of spring, but the summer months had been strangely kind to them.

"Guh! Dammit!" She exclaimed,

"Saito, where'd you come from?" she wiped the water from her face, and stood to face him.

She had been leaning on the corner counter in such a way that she couldn't see him enter the room.

"The Living Room, Toshi's watching LOVELESS." he replied,

"So, did you have a rough day?" Saito raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the right.

Kaoru sighed and put her glass on the counter behind her,

"I'm just tired from being on my feet all day; I have training with James and Harly tonight, and I have more chores to do before then. I need a break, a really bloody long one."

Kaoru rubbed her forehead, and picked up her glass again.

Saito nodded, he didn't mind extra work since he liked feeling useful to Tomoe and the other members of the house, but he was starting to feel the work take a toll on his body like Emma.

"Yeah, I feel it too." then he heard something, turning around, he saw Harly's fox-ears poking into the kitchen.

"Sweetie? What's wrong?" Harly's fox-ears were still protruding out from behind the entrance to the Living Room,

"It's okay, you can come in. We're not talking about sending you away." Harly pulled forwards, and into the kitchen; the kitten that she had been playing with earlier wasn't with her, but that didn't matter.

"Daddy, do you need me to help around the house?" she asked; Kaoru and Saito were taken aback by her willingness, but they weren't about to say 'no' to an offer of help,

"Really?" this came from Emma, who was the happiest to hear this,

"That'd be so great if you could help us out, but do you think you can handle it by yourself?"

Harly thought for a moment, and noticed that the television was on; she walked over towards it, and saw James sitting on the couch, half asleep. Harly pointed to the Eagle-boy, Saito and Kaoru immediately understood what she was saying; Kaoru then tapped James on the shoulder and asked if he was willing to help out around the house. Naturally, because it was Kaoru who had asked, James was only too pleased to help.

Hours later.

Tomoe arrived home, tired and ready to curl up in bed with a good book, a glass of milk, and either Saito or Yuuzuki next to her.

She entered the kitchen, fully expecting Saito and Kaoru to be cleaning the dishes, but instead she saw Harly and James busily at work, loading and unloading the dishwasher, and placing the clean dishes in the cupboards over the stove and counters.

"Hi Sis," Harly called when she saw Tomoe, and she rushed over to give her a hug. Tomoe was surprised,

"This is unusual," she said, "What made you guys want to help out in the house?" James spoke up,

"We realized we were being lazy, and Daddy and Emma asked us for help." Tomoe nodded knowingly, just as Richard walked into the kitchen, followed by Saito and Kaoru.

"Do you guys want dinner?" she asked with a smile, and Kaoru spoke up,

"We knew you'd be tired when you got home, so we ordered take-out for all of us." Tomoe could only smile.

She was starting to feel that the new members of her household were spoiling her; but she was glad of a rest and a change of pace when it came to her housework, she was still thinking as she went to take a shower.


	7. Chapter 7

Ten minutes later, Tomoe had gotten out of the shower, and had gotten into a simple pair of pajamas and her robe. She was making her way towards the kitchen and heard the front door open; she didn't go to see who or what it was, and she stopped walking as she arrived in the living room.

Harly was curled up in a ball on the couch, and she lay to the left of Saito, who was petting her gently as she rested. Tomoe smiled when she saw this and petted Saito as he sat silently on the couch; just then, Tomoe felt something warm and furry pass through her legs,

"Aagghh!" she exclaimed and lurched backwards, this made Saito jump, and he ended up waking Harly; the furry thing, jumped up onto the couch and into Harly's lap. Now that it was out in the open, Tomoe could see that it was a kitten; Harly smiled broadly as the kitten looked up and crawled onto her shoulders, resting on them like a scarf.

Tomoe watched in disbelief, as Harly stroked the head of the cat as it purred happily; all the while, with a goofy smile on her face.

"Harly . . ." Tomoe said, "Where did that cat come from . . .?" to Saito, she sounded upset, but he didn't say anything at first.

"This guy?" Harly asked. She wasn't paying attention to Tomoe; she was too busy enjoying the company of the kitten,

"I found it outside a few hours before you got home. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, and I don't know what breed it is, but Daddy said I could keep it if I took care of it myself."

Tomoe looked at Saito for confirmation; he simply nodded. Tomoe sighed,

"Alright, lemme see it." she took hold of the kitten, grasping it by the scruff of the neck and staring directly into its eyes,

"Hey!" Harly was worried that Tomoe was going to throw the kitten out to the road, but she was still eyeing the kitten all over.

"It's a girl," she said, "and she looks like a Munchkin cross-breed."

She analyzed the kitten thoughtfully, then turned back to Harly,

"Where did you find her?" she asked,

"She was at the patio at the back." Harly explained, she was still worried about losing her, but as Tomoe continued to look at the kitten, her expression wasn't as hard as it was earlier,

" . . . And you haven't decided on a name yet?"

"No, not yet- PLEASE DON'T THROW HER OUT OF THE HOUSE! I PROMISE I'LL TAKE PROPER CARE OF HEEEERRRRRRR! LEMME KEEP HEEEERRRRRRR! PLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE!"

Harly's eyes started to leak with tears as she pleaded Tomoe not to throw her kitten away; Tomoe, who was rather shocked by this outburst, recovered and said her next words carefully.

"I'm not going to throw her out of the house; I was just thinking that we should take her to the vet. She looks somewhat under nourished. I'm also curious about what breed of cat she is."

Saito, who had been silent this whole time was watching with interest; he hadn't seen Harly like this before, he was beginning to wonder if being her 'Father' was worth those kinds of outbursts, but the second that he that, he checked himself,

"Is it really okay? Yay! Thank you, Tomoe.", Harly's happy face was adorable to both Tomoe and Saito, and of course, Saito knew that he had to have more than one reason, to consider Harly his 'Daughter', otherwise, when she got older, their 'Father-Daughter relationship would' mean less and less.

Stepping away from this issue,

James and Richard were busy helping Kaoru carry the take-out orders to the kitchen; Richard had set down the first paper bag of food at the table just as James entered with the second; Tomoe set the kitten back on the floor and went to the front door with her wallet, and Saito followed a moment later to help with any other bags.

Kaoru was busily chatting with the delivery person, trying to make sure that all of the orders were correct; just then Tomoe arrived, with Saito following close behind; sure enough, there was another bag of take-out ready to be taken away,

"I'll get that-" Kaoru started, but Saito had other ideas,

"No, let me." he said as he took hold of the bag and began to make his way to the kitchen.

The delivery person, pulled out a copy of the receipt, and handed it to Tomoe,

"That'll be: $65.04" said the delivery person,

"Okay, just a moment." Tomoe produced several paper bills and extended her slender hand towards the delivery person; the delivery person said 'Thank you,' as he took the bills and strode back to his truck,

"Have a good night!" Kaoru called, and waved at the delivery person with a light smile; the person waved back as he shut the car door.

Tomoe had gone to help James and Harly set the table and Saito had come back to the front door, Kaoru turned around,

"Agh! Saito, for the Love of God, stop scaring me like that!" Kaoru placed a hand on her chest and slowed her breathing; Saito smiled weakly,

"I'm sorry. But I was just looking to see if there were any other bags left to take to the kitchen; you like that delivery person, don't you?" a light smile crossed his face as he asked that, Kaoru was upset by this,

"D-Don't be stupid! You know that I only have eyes for one person." she looked him directly in the eye as she finished speaking,

"I know," Saito replied, returning her gaze,

"But he may have found someone in the time we've been-"

"Don't say it!" Kaoru cut him off before he could finish his sentence, and tears welled up in her eyes, Saito's expression softened, as he folded her into his arms and shut the front door.

Kaoru hugged Saito back, and blinked her tears away; Saito rested his chin on her head and closed his eyes,

"Aren't you worried?" Kaoru asked Saito while still in his arms,

"About what?"

"You know? Don't you think that she might've found someone other than you to be with? I mean, you did say that you wouldn't mind being with someone like her-"

"If she had, I wouldn't care." Saito cut her off before she could finish,

"I'm not so emotionally attached to her for it to matter, if she did."

Just then,

"Saito! Kaoru! Are you guys hungry? We're about to start eating!" Tomoe called; either looked to the other, and they lightly smiled as they trundled up the stairs.

A few days later, James Harly and Kaoru were sitting at the kitchen table, were eating breakfast. Kaoru was eating a bowl of instant oats with a cup of coffee, James was eating a bagel with an omlette inside of it and drinking a mug of tea, Richard was eating a bowl of cereal with a glass of orange juice, and Harly was eating a pair of Pop-tarts with a glass of chocolate milk.

James was feeling very happy that day, he ate his sandwich with a smile on his mouth, this came as a surprise to the others,

"Yo James," Harly piped up,

"What're you so happy about?", Harly took another bite out of the Pop-tart she was eating and raised an eyebrow,

"Whu-I-cambee habee?" James raised an eyebrow himself as she spoke, Kaoru stopped eating and stared at James with disgust,

"Aw jeez, James! Don't talk with your mouth full!" James swallowed before speaking again,

"Oh, sorry, I said: What, I can't be happy?" he turned his attention back to Harly and took a sip from his mug,

"No, that's not what we meant" Harly answered,

"It's just . . . the grin on your face was too silly and creepy." James made a face after he put his mug down,

"Oh, shut up you." He retorted,

"No, I'm just in a really good mood today. Not really sure why though."

"What're ya s'posed ta be? A woman?" this came from a smug-faced Richard; Kaoru and Harly glared at him furiously,

"Whu- You got that backwards, you sexist fuck!" Kaoru seethed as she glared at Richard, Harly snorted crossly,

"Why is it that you always have to say such shit about us girls, you cunt!?"

James was amused and bemused, with the scene that was unfolding before him; he wanted to say something but he was wise enough to not butt heads with angry women, now more so than before, since Harly and Kaoru were more than angry. Richard then started telling both girls exactly what he thought of them,

"Will y'all's shutchyer traps!? Jezus! Yer more annoyin' than the old bag tha-we used to call Mom!" Richard ranted onwards for another few minutes straight.

James was surprised that Richard felt this way about women, but when he thought about it, it made perfect sense; when they were younger, both of them were bullied by girls at their school; Richard definitely had it worse, but he'd never opened up about it, so James was never too sure of how Richard actually felt.

Both girls were taken aback; they turned away from Richard and said nothing more. Then, Saito emerged from the living room, covered in sweat and made his way to the fridge; Harly looked over to him and noticed something,

"Hey, doesn't Daddy look like that one guy from Hakuouki when he smiles?" she asked, Kaoru looked at Harly puzzled,

"Uhh, Saito doesn't really smile, he grins, or gazes at people and it make you feel like he's smiling." Harly looked at Kaoru and then looked over to Saito,

"I mean, he looks like the guy with the brown hair and circle glasses." Kaoru and James looked from one to the other, they knew who she was talking about, but they couldn't remember the name of the person she meant,

"Y'mean, San'nan?" This came from Richard, who was tired of feeling left out of the conversation.

All at once, the two girls at the table burst out,

"YES, HIM!" Richard was surprised by their excitement and shut up,

James looked at Saito's face when he turned around; Saito wasn't paying attention to the conversation that the four were having, he was tired from training since the previous night and the following morning. Saito was taking sip a from a glass of milk, when James finally noticed,

"Now thatchyou've pointed it out, I can't unsee it." He said, almost in wonderment. Harly's tail waved from left to right as she imagined Saito wearing Keisuke San'nan's outfit in Hakuouki,

"He's a complete look-alike." she said, Kaoru snickered when the image came to her mind,

"He is not! Although, if he was, then that'd make him the General Commander, but his presence is nowhere near as warm as San'nan's is; Saito is a lot colder than his"

"Waitaminute, is San'nan a first name, or a last name?" this came from James, Richard pulled out his phone and immediately typed in the search field:

'Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan' and he headed straight for the wikipedia page,

"What're y'doin'?" James asked,

"Lookin' fer San'nan . . ." Richard quietly replied; at last, he found the link.

"Here it is: Yamanami . . . Keisuke? d'hell?" Richard scrolled down to the trivia section of the web page,

"'Kay, s'apparently, San'nan cambe pronounced two ways, but it's clearly a last name."

Harly furrowed her brows and pouted; she felt like the conversation wasn't going anywhere,

"What's his first name then?" she asked,

"I jus'said, dumass. It's Keisuke."

Harly snorted again, and threw a well-placed, back-handed slap directly into Richard's field of vision.

*THOCK! *

"Arrgh, Fuckyou!" Richard exclaimed as he and his chair fell to the ground with a loud, crackly thud.

"That's whatchu get for callin' me a dumass, dumass"

At last, Saito took notice of the other's discussion and joined in,

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked.

James responded first, "Nutin'. Si'down Keisuke, you're makin' m'legs hurt."

"Keisuke? Who're you talking to?"

"You, Keisuke." Richard chimed in; Saito was getting more and more confused.

"My name isn't Keisuke! It's just Saito."

"But you need a first name." Kaoru said, "And since you haven't bothered to try one out, we've chosen a name for you." she smiled cheekily as she returned to her coffee. Saito wasn't impressed,

"But why Keisuke of all names? That sounds too . . . shota-esque . . .almost." he finished lamely,

"Well . . ." Harly began,

"To everyone here at the table, you resemble San'nan-san from Hakuouki. And his first name is Keisuke."

When she finished talking, Saito lowered his eyelids and raised an eyebrow, exasperated.

"Really? You guys really think I resemble this guy THAT much?" all four nodded in agreement with cheeky grins on their faces.

"Arright, fine." Saito turned his nose up,

"James, from now on, you will be: Yamanami Toshizo."

"No!" James made a face as he pouted.

"Richard, from now on, you will be: Nagakura Soujiro."

"Th'fuck?" Richard raised an eyebrow, and his middle finger.

"Harly, from now on, you will be: Todou Yuuzuki."

"Yaaay!" Harly threw her arms in the air and smiled broadly as both her ears and tail twitched.

Everyone looked at Harly with a perplexed expression; she returned the expression to everyone.

"What? Heisuke's the hottest one in that whole group."

"No, he isn't." Kaoru interjected,

"Sanosuke is!"

Saito simply downed his milk, and strode away.

Later that week, James was sitting in the living room with a notebook and pen on hand. He was trying to figure out a name for his specific style of swordsmanship; he had started his training in the Tennen Rishin style but changed over to Hokushin Ittou since he felt that it suited his build and body type better.

But recently, James was considering taking up Tennen Rishin again.

At this point, he was stuck between three different ones:

1\. Tengu Ishinto Ryu

2\. Honnen Rishou Ryu

or

3\. Hokunen Ishin Ryu

There were many other names on the page, but these three were ones that stood out to him the most and he'd underlined them thrice using his pen; James lightly chewed on the back of the pen as he thought it over.

Just then, Richard walked into the room and turned the television on, breaking James' concentration,

"What- Dammit Richard! I was thinking!" Richard laughed as he tossed the remote over to the ottoman and plopped down on the couch next to his winged brother,

"Wha'cha doin'?" he asked as he eyed the notepaper intently,

"What're all these?" he raised an eyebrow

"I'm tryin' to come up with a name for the Kenjutsu that I practice." James explained,

"I'm combining two different styles into one, and I wanna use the names of both styles for the name of the one that I'm tryin' to create."

Richard eyed the three names that James had underlined, and pulled out his phone and translated them,

"I'd say to go with'e last name, cheggit out." Richard turned the phone screen towards his brother's face and showed him the results.

"North-Star Dragon mind flow . . .? 'Da'hell?" James scrutinized the name and wrote it down.

"This doesn't seem cool at all." He said as he turned to face Richard,

"Yer lookin' at it all wrong," Richard snorted, and snatched the pen from James' hand,

"Here, gimme de notebook . . . Dragon . . . of . . . The . . . North . . . Star. There! See? Complete Epicosity!"

James was taken aback, he hadn't expected Richard to be this good at putting words together, much less arranging them.

"Wow, that's . . . actually pretty epic . . . thanks bro." Was all that he could manage to say, but when James looked up, Richard was nowhere to be seen.

"What is he? Batman?" James said, to no one in particular.

Now, let us take a closer look into the 'Abnormal' character traits:

Keisuke Saito - The Wolf, Kaoru Ito - The Owl, James - The Eagle, Richard - The Bat, and Harly – The Fox; the six of them have traits that align with the animal features that they bear.

For example: Kaoru and James both enjoy sleeping either sitting or standing up, truly, they prefer to sleep in a sitting position, but they won't hesitate to sleep standing up if the need arises. They also enjoy having their hair ruffled, (Their hair is somewhat feather-like) and they enjoy feeling the sensation of every strand of hair being stroked up or down.

On this same note, Richard enjoys hanging upside down on the bar inside of his closet; Tomoe, Saito, and James have to him not to put all of his weight on such a thin bar of steel, but despite the warnings, he still does it. He also doesn't like to be touched in any way, unless it is someone he has chosen to date, or if it is someone that he is completely used to being around.

As for Saito and Harly, the two of them enjoy curling up into balls and sleeping side by side. They usually do this when they watch television, or when they're about ready to go to sleep. They both also greatly enjoy, and appreciate being petted or scratched under the chin, petting them slowly will put them to sleep, but petting them quickly makes them feel as though they are ready for anything.

Stepping away from the somewhat broken fourth wall, Harly and Tomoe were away from the house. They had both taken the kitten to the veterinarian, and they were sitting patiently in the waiting room.

Well almost patiently.

"Hrrmmm hrm hrmm hmm!" Harly was itching to find out more about her kitten.

She was still having a hard time choosing a name; but to her mind, the little one's health mattered more than that at present.

"What's the point in choosing a name, if there's no one around to wear it?" was what she said.

The kitten was meowing quietly, she almost looked sad. Tomoe had owned a cat previously, but not even she was prepared for something like this. She put a gentle hand on Harly's head,

"The doctor will get here soon, we just have to wait." Tomoe smiled slightly, but Harly was getting more and more anxious,

"I can't help it! I don' wan' my kitty to die!" She exclaimed in reply.

The waiting room wasn't full, but they still had to wait for the doctor to finish up with his last patient.

Harly stroked the kitten's neck as they waited; it's meowing turned into a gentle purr, and it closed its eyes contentedly. Tomoe reached over and petted the kitten as well, and the purring got louder. Tomoe could only smile; her last kitten was a young boy that she'd named Kosuke, and this kitten's behaviour reminded her very much of her 'little boy'.

At last, the door opened and the doctor's last patient left the room. Harly jumped up and rushed into the hallway before the assistant nurse could call out the name of the next patient; Tomoe simply stood up quietly and followed Harly down the hall.

The doctor met them after they arrived in the room, and at last the checkup began; the doctor eyed the kitten all over and declared that it was a cross-breed Oriental Shorthair, Munchkin, Khao Manee; then he began gently cleaning its ears out with a small q-tip. Once that was done, the doctor proceeded to check the cat all over for further signs of neglect or abuse.

Finding no major problems on the outside, the doctor looked inside the kitten's mouth and saw that it was missing a few teeth and had a cavity; the doctor then prescribed several medicinal creams to be applied every morning and said to bring the cat back in as soon as possible to have its teeth looked at.

The doctor shook hands with Tomoe, said goodbye to Harly, petted the kitten, and left the room to attend to his next patient; Harly was confused,

"Can't we just stay here? He said that we need to bring her back as soon as we can, didn't he?" she turned to face Tomoe, who had risen to her feet and put her purse back over her shoulder,

"He can't right now, he has other pets to examine. Some of them may be in worse condition than her, so we need to speak to the receptionist and make another appointment to get her looked at." Tomoe took a step towards Harly and ruffled her hair,

"Don't worry, she'll be alright." Harly blinked, and then smiled.

She knew that there were other people that the doctor had to go and see, but she still wished that her kitten could be cared for by someone who could fix the problem quickly.


End file.
